


The Other Worldly Earthbender

by StarrChip20



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Airbending & Airbenders, Bending (Avatar), Dimension Travel, Earthbending & Earthbenders, Eventual Romance, F/F, Firebending & Firebenders, Multiple Universes Colliding, Original Character(s), Post-Avatar: The Legend of Korra, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, Training, Waterbending & Waterbenders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:55:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26129146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarrChip20/pseuds/StarrChip20
Summary: Lin, needing a way to travel to Zaofu to see her family, accidentally ends up creating up a last-minute vacation for everyone to the city. Korra, who hasn't had many intense Avatar duties since defeating Commander Guan, feels uneasy about the trip. That feeling is proven to be valid when a stranger falls from a hole in the sky. Armed to the teeth with strange tech and claiming to be from a universe where they exist solely as fictional entities and bending doesn't exist, Korra and the others now have to figure out how to send the stranger back home. It only gets more complicated when said stranger develops the ability to earth bend and needs training for the time being before they are sent home.
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato, Kuvira (Avatar)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 81





	1. A Chaotic Morning and Uneasy Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all, this is my first public fic, sorry if it's a bit jank. Also, I'm not totally used to AO3 formatting yet so forgive any errors you might find, I tried to catch them all. Enjoy. ^-^

Korra didn’t know how she, Lin, Bolin, Mako, Asami, and Tenzin and his family ended up taking a trip to Zaofu in a moment’s notice this morning. She and the others were visiting air bender island when Lin mentioned she had postponed her visit back to see Suyin and her family because she wasn’t able to get tickets for a boat ride there. That’s when both Asami and Tenzin offered an airship and bison, respectively, as options to get her to Zaofu. Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, and Rohan overheard this and began asking the father to go with and visit the city of metal. Bolin mentioned wanting to go and see Opal, while Asami turned to Korra and mentioned wanting to take a break from her company and go on another vacation with her since they hadn’t done so since the spirit world. At some point, even Bumi and Kya joined the conversation. It went from a simple offer over morning breakfast to complete chaos.

Now they all were on one of Asami’s airships on their way to Zaofu and a simple trip for Lin to see her sister and her family had turned into an all-out vacation for the whole group. Korra was staring out the window, watching the scenery pass by. She realized she was lost in thought when she didn’t notice Asami walking up to her and asking her something until Asami had placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you okay, you’ve seemed out of it since we’ve left Republic City.”

Korra gave a weak smile and tried to reassure Asami she was fine but sighed when she saw Asami wasn’t buying it, “ I just feel off. My Avatar duties have been slower than usual lately, and I’ve got a gut feeling that’s making me uneasy about this sudden vacation to Zaofu. It’s making me a bit nervous.”

Asami gave Korra a sympathetic look, “You might be on edge because you’ve become used to your life and the lives of those around you in immediate danger from some enemy. Maybe this vacation will help you get used too not having to worry about everything else all the time. Enjoy the balance you have now.”

Korra gave Asami a skeptical look and smirked, “ I mean I doubt it, keeping peace and saving the world is pretty much the job description of being the Avatar, but maybe your right. Relaxing with everyone might be what I need right now. I mean it has been a while since all of us have been together like this, I should enjoy it.”

Asami smiled, “If you need to talk more, let me know. You can always come to me if you need it,” she then hugged Korra briefly.

Korra mumbled a quiet thanks, and then Asami left to go check-in with the crew and make sure everything was going smoothly with their trip, leaving Korra with slightly less worry than she had before and little more excitement for their arrival in Zaofu.

\---------------

The first day in Zaofu was as uneventful as it could be. The Beifongs greeted them when they landed, ecstatic that Lin was able to come on time. They went to their rooms provided by the Beifongs to settle in, and soon after that, everyone split off to do things throughout the city. Most of the adults stayed inside the house with Suyin and Bataar, happy enough to just talk and catch up. While they spoke, Jinora went to look for a library in the city, and Ikki, Meelo, and Rohan ended up joining Wing and Wei for a game of power disk, adding an air bending twist to the game. Korra was currently sitting in the gardens, enjoying the serenity and a moment of calm. She heard footsteps approaching and assumed it was Asami or someone else from Team Avatar coming to look for her, instead, to Korra’s surprise, the footsteps that rounded the corner belonged to Kuvira. She hadn’t seen her since arriving in Zaofu. She wasn’t there to greet everyone, and Korra was fully expecting to go the full trip without seeing her.

When Kuvira noticed Korra, she let out a small noise of surprise, “I didn’t know anyone else was in the gardens. I’m sorry for disturbing you.”

She made a move to leave but stopped when Korra called out to her, “You don’t have to leave just because I’m here, come sit with me.”

Kuvira hesitated for a moment before caving and walking over to the Avatar to sit down. The silence between them hung in the air for a moment. It wasn’t tense, but it wasn’t, by all means, a comfortable one. Korra was trying to think of something, anything to say, but they hadn’t kept in much contact after Kuvira was taken into the custody of Suyin, she didn’t know what to say. After a few minutes, she didn’t need to say anything, Kuvira spoke up first.

“So… how did all of you end up coming to Zaofu? I thought Lin was the only one coming to visit her family.”

“Oh, it was all suddenly planned this morning. When Lin mentioned pushing her trip back because of travel plans falling through, offers came from Tenzin and Asami for other ways to get here. Then all of a sudden, everyone was talking about how they wanted to visit Zaofu for one reason or another,” Korra hesitated for a moment before asking a question of her own, “What about you? How have you been adjusting to being in the custody of Su and the Beifongs? I haven’t heard from you since your trial after bringing Guan into custody.”

Kuvira heaved out a heavy sigh that almost made Korra regret asking in the first place. After a moment of considering her answer, Kuvira turned to Korra with a weak smile, “As good as it can be. The last few months have been a struggle, especially to earn the trust back from everyone, but it’s slowly getting there. The hardest trust to gain back has been Junior and Opal’s. Opal and I never really saw eye to eye growing up, and I wasn’t exactly friendly to her over the years and Junior...well you were there.”

Korra gave an awkward laugh at Kuvira’s statement. She wanted to ask something else to keep the conversation going, but Meelo came running over, telling them he was there to grab them for dinner. They both shared a small smile before getting up to follow Meelo to the dining room.

The dinner was rather lively, with the large group filling up the decently sized dining room adorned with earth and metal decorations. It felt like a blur too. As soon Korra sat down and joined the conversations going on, it felt like she was just as quickly back up and walking with Asami to their room. When they got to it, Korra flopped on the bed with a sigh, relieved to get some sleep. After a moment, Asami got into bed with her, snuggling close. Korra relaxed into her embrace, it becoming familiar after many nights of being together. It’s a comforting feeling that puts both of them to sleep almost as soon as they are together. 

\---------------

The next morning Korra and Asami were both rudely snapped awake by Kya bursting into their room.

“Woah, what's wrong,” Korra asked through a yawn, not utterly awake yet.

“We’ve got a situation, and you two should come outside as soon as you can.”

They both stiffened at Kya’s words, Korra’s mind instantly went to the feeling she had yesterday. After sharing a glance, Korra and Asami quickly got ready and headed outside to the others who had already gathered.

Korra turned to Tenzin, “What’s going on? Why is everyone gathered out here?”

“That,” Tenzin said, pointing up towards the sky, “Is why we are all out here.”

Korra followed Tenzin’s arm up, and when she reached where he was pointing, her eyes widened in shock. There was a giant dark hole in the sky.


	2. The Stranger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things I forgot to mention in the last chapter notes. First, this is continued off of the comics, not the show, so if things are mentioned about events that aren't from the show they are most likely from the comic. To be honest, it shouldn't come up too much, everything from now on is general. I also am pulling some moves from the bending wiki, like the rock shoes, as a heads up. Second I am a sophomore in college with random intervals of motivation, so sometimes updates will be close together and sometimes they'll be far apart, sorry in advance. This will affect the length of chapters as well. Some will be shorter like the last chapter and some will be long like this chapter. It mostly depends on what I have planned event-wise for the chapter. With that out of the way, Enjoy!

Korra was dumbstruck. She was currently looking at what seemed to be a rather large hole hanging in the sky, and no one had any knowledge of what it was or how it got there.

She turned to Tenzin, “Did anyone try and go see what that thing is?”

He nodded, “A few of us went up to try and inspect it earlier, but once we started getting close to it, it started to repel us back. We can’t get anywhere near it.”

Korra huffed, and she started to think of resources they could use to try and figure out what this thing was before something terrible would end up happening with it. Korra wanted to get this over with and be able to enjoy her first vacation in a while. 

Suddenly she was snapped back to the group when Lin let out a noise of frustration, “We should be looking for strange things or people around here. Things don’t just appear out of no-” 

Lin stopped dead when a flash filled her and everyone else’s vision for a split second, and their attention was turned back to the portal, which was now shooting out charges of energy. Everyone was frozen in place, unsure of what they could do about something they can’t even reach. For a moment, it felt like time slowed down, everyone waiting to see what would happen, waiting to react to whatever came from the hole. Then, as there had been a few moments earlier, there was another flash, and afterward, the hole in the sky was gone, almost as fast as it had shown up.

“So,” Bolin started, trying to work out his confusion, “A strange possibly dangerous hole ends up appearing in the sky and, after flashing and shooting out energy, it ends up just disappearing, nothing coming of it at all?”

They stood in silence for a moment before Suyin looked up and noticed something that had taken the place of the hole that made her mind fill with panic.

“Someone is falling from way up there!”

Everyone looked to where Suyin was looking, and, sure enough, someone was freefalling from where the hole once was. Before anyone could even ask what to do, Kuvira launched herself towards the falling person with her earth bending. She caught them and slowed down their descent but realized how high she had flung herself, which took her access away from the earth. That, combined with the fact her hands were now preoccupied, holding the person to keep them from falling away from her, made Kuvira realize her grave mistake in rushing forward instead of waiting back and calculating a solution like she usually does. If she had done that, maybe she would have realized one of the Airbenders would have been better suited to help save someone from falling.

Seeing how she was now in freefall with no way to help herself until she was dangerously close to the ground, Kuvira decided the best way to fix this was to get some help, so she decided to call out to someone who could.

“Suyin!”

She waited, hoping she wasn’t too far for Suyin and the others to hear her, and after a few excruciating long moments, Kuvira felt something hit her feet. Looking at them, she saw there was now earth covering her feet and down on the ground Suyin and Lin had run over and started raising a spiral of rock towards her. Realizing what they intended for her to do, she maneuvered herself the best she could to line up with the ramp and braced for the impact. When she hit the column of rock, Kuvira wobbled a bit from the force of the landing. She tried to maintain control along the spiral for as long as she could, but at the bottom right where the ground became flat, her feet caught the ground and she fell forward. Kuvira lost her grip and the person, whom she had barely been able to hold onto during their fall, ended up falling forward and rolling a few feet from her on the ground. 

Suyin and Lin came over to help Kuvira up and as she looked up, she noticed a few things about the person she saved. Firstly they seemed to be a young woman, close to Kuvira’s age, maybe a few years younger. The next thing that stood out was the girl was wearing strange clothing that seemed unique to any of the four nations, clothing that none of the three earth benders had seen before. There also seemed to be a bag of some sort hung across her body. The last thing Kuvira and the other two noticed was the girl was now slowly getting up and trying to grasp her surroundings. The three of them shared a look before walking over to her.

As Kuvira, Lin, and Suyin came closer to the young woman, she turned towards them. Once they got close enough to her for her to get a good look at them, the girl’s face turned into an expression of shock and she took several steps back. The rest of the group was now coming towards them and when the girl turned around to see who was approaching, her face paled. All of them watched the girl nervously paced trying to rationalize something with herself.

“I’m dreaming,” she stated with a shaky sense of hope in her voice, “Yeah… yeah! Mom and Dad probably messed up the portal’s power calculation and a surge of energy knocked me out or something, I’ll wake up in the next few minutes for sure.”

Lin walked over to the girl and set a hand on her shoulder, “Hey calm down, you aren’t dreaming.”

The girl looked at Lin’s hand on her shoulder and then slowly back up to her face, “So… right now… I’ve somehow ended up in Zaofu… and you all,” she motioned to everyone surrounding her, “Are standing in front of me right now, for real?”

Lin nodded in confirmation and the girl looked around once more before letting a nervous laugh and then crumpling to the ground from passing out.

\---------------

Opal was currently standing outside the room they had recently laid the stranger down when she passed out. She had somehow convinced everyone to let her watch the room and wait for the stranger to wake up by mentioning how distraught the girl looked when she noticed everyone and that it would be better for one person to be there than the whole group. To be honest, she was just as curious about this strange girl, and the portal she mentioned, as everyone else. Who was she, where was she from, and what was with her strange clothing?

Opal was dragged away from these thoughts when she heard a thud come from the room. _She must have woken up,_ Opal thought and moved to open the door. When she stepped through the doorway she saw the strange girl face-first on the floor, tangled in a mass of blankets. The girl quickly sat up and noticed Opal standing in the room. She scrambled to stand up and gave an embarrassed smile.

“Uh, hi there,” the girl was fidgeting with the hem of her shirt looking at the floor, only occasionally glancing up at Opal.

Opal walked over to her, “Hey… should you be standing, you kinda fell from the sky, were thrown across the ground from Kuvira’s arms when she fell, and then you passed out for a good while. You shouldn’t be forcing yourself too much if you don’t feel okay from all that.”

The girl frantically shook her head, “I’m fine, to be completely honest I’ve been through worse and that wasn’t my first time falling from way up like that,” she held out her hand to Opal, “The name’s Aster, Aster Ward.”

Opal took Aster’s hand, “Opal Beifong.”

Aster let out a weak laugh, “I know.”

Opal looked at her confused, “What?”

“I know who you are. I also know who the rest of your family is, the Beifongs, Avatar Korra, Team Avatar, and all of Tenzin’s family. I know who they all are.”

Opal tried to process this. It would make sense if Aster knew some of these people in her life, some of them were openly involved with Korra, but knowing every single person involved in the Avatar’s life didn’t add up to Opal. 

Lost, Opal could only think of one thing to ask, “How?”

Aster sighed knowing how hard this was about to get, “This isn’t exactly easy to explain so if I lose you somewhere let me know, but pretty much I’m not from your world. I come from a world where bending doesn’t exist, neither do you or any of your friends technically.”

“Wait, so if we come from a world where we don’t exist, how do you know who we all are?”

Aster smiled awkwardly, “That’s where the explaining thing gets complicated because I assume that you don’t know what tv is right?”

When Opal looked at the girl with utter confusion, shaking her head no, Aster thought for a moment on how she could explain this to Opal, and everyone else in general when the time came. After a long silence between the two, she remembered something that might make this easier to explain.

“Ok, so you know the movi- movers Varrick made right?” 

Opal nodded, wondering how this was relevant.

“And you know Bolin starred in those movers as a character named Nuktuk and you know that Nuktuk exists solely in those movers, he isn’t real right?”

“Of course, Nuktuk was a character created solely for the movers,” Opal asked, still lost, “What do the movers have to do with us though?”

“In my world, you all, bending, and the concept of the Avatar in general, exist solely as characters and parts in a tv show or, in your world’s terms, a mover, one that is drawn by hand. This universe isn’t real in my world, most people there think of bending and you all as fictional. Technically there are two versions of it as well, one is the story of Aang stopping the hundred-year war and the other is the story of Korra growing into her title as the Avatar.”

Opal sat down on the bed trying to process being told that this girl saw her and her friends and family as fictional characters, people who, in simply put terms didn’t exist, “I hope you understand this sounds crazy and impossible, right? Is there some kind of way you could prove it to me?”

Aster didn’t say anything, but rather looked around the room. When her eyes landed on her bag she walked over to it, grabbed something from it, and returned to sit next to Opal. When Aster held it up it seemed to be a flat piece of metal. The girl then touched the screen and it lit up, making Opal jump a bit. Aster apologized, explaining that this was her phone and it was how she was going to show her proof of the drawn movers in her world. _This doesn’t look like any telephone I’ve seen before,_ Opal thought but decided to keep thoughts to herself for time being.

After watching Aster navigate through things she didn’t understand, Opal watched Aster stop on something and turn the small box towards her.

“Here, look at this,” she stated.

Opal watched as sure enough there were pictures of her and her friends in what looked like a drawn fashion. Some of them even moved to show parts of events that Opal knew had happened at some point in the past.

“Wow,” Opal started, “So wait, if we aren’t real in your world, how did you even get here in the first place?”

“Well long story short, my family was working on creating portals to make traveling around our world practically instant, but it seems like, even though they got the portal working, when they sent me through, instead of ending up at another point in my world, the portal tore through to your universe instead and now I’m stuck got to find a way to replicate that and get home.”

“That’s rough, but maybe the others can help you, you should go and explain this to them. I know they are all waiting together to figure out things about you so it’d be perfect,” Opal beamed.

Aster looked at Opal, felt a little calmer about the whole situation, and shrugged, “Sure, why not.”

\---------------

Aster stood outside the dining room, extremely tense. Opal had taken her there as that had been where everyone was waiting. Explaining the stuff she explained to Opal had gone about as well as she expected. During everything, Aster was mostly met with a mix of blank and confused stares. When she showed all of them the same proof she showed Opal earlier there was more silence, and then she was asked to leave the room by Suyin while they talked this whole situation over. Aster didn’t know how long she had been out here, it had felt like forever to her, but eventually, Opal came to bring her back into the room. She once again stood in front of everyone, the stares she was getting were making her nerves fly through the roof.

After a moment, Tenzin was the first to speak up, “Aster, was it? I hope you understand how outlandish this sounds to us, claiming to be from another world, one that sees ours as not real.”

Aster rubbed the back of her neck, feeling awkward, “Yeah, but trust me, while slightly different, I am experiencing the same disbelief you all are.”

“So, then,” Lin looked at her with a glare, “What is your plan now that you have ended up here?”

“To get home,” Aster sighed, “Look I know it seems shady and like some trick, but until I can figure out how to get back, or my family finds a way to me, I’m stuck. If it helps ease your nervousness about me, I wouldn’t be against having someone watch me while I’m here.”

Suyin nodded, “I think that is something I will do, while I don’t completely distrust you I do see it as a necessary safety precaution,” she turned to Kuvira, “Can I ask you to be the one to do this?”

Kuvira stiffened, looking back and forth between her and Aster for a moment before conceding, “Fine, I don’t have too much of an issue with staying with her while she’s here.”

Suyin smiled at Kuvira and then turned back Aster, still standing awkwardly in front of everyone, “For the time being, until you find a way home, you can stay with my family,” Aster looked at Suyin in shock as did many others at the table, but she didn’t give anyone a chance to challenge this by continuing, “Although before we all disperse I do have a question. You’ve stated that we are the equivalent to characters in movers in your world, but all you’ve shown us are images. Is there a way you could show us the movers?”

Aster nodded, pulling a larger flat square out of her backpack, “I have them on here, my laptop. We can watch them but I should let you know a few things first. One, this will take a while, there is a bit of your guys’ story to get through. Two, while this story is mainly from Korra’s perspective, you all will see personal aspects of everyone’s lives here, so, if we do watch these, you’ll have to be okay with that. Finally, this screen isn’t all that big so we will have to crowd around it, sorry.”

There was a murmur in the room as everyone talked for a moment amongst themselves and then Suyin turned towards Aster. Giving her a reaffirming smile, she said, “We are all okay with those factors, please show us how your world views ours."


	3. In the Garden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... My bad for not updating in a month. Life got a bit hectic and prepping for midterms made this chapter take way longer than it should have. Sorry for the wait and here's to hoping the next chapter won't take as long.

It took a few days

It took a few days of watching for everyone to get through the full series. Aster would point out her favorite bending scenes as well as what other people in her world theorized about certain parts of the show. Sometimes someone would point out their thoughts during scenes and it was fascinating to Aster to see different aspects that weren’t directly explained from the show itself. One of the hardest parts of the show to watch was season 4. This was due to a few things. The first thing that created tension was the parts with Korra dealing with her PTSD from her fight with Zaheer. She hadn’t really talked about it with anyone much after it happened so it made her perspective for the beginning of the season awkward. The second major thing that made things tense was the fact that Kuvira was the main antagonist of the season. The scenes where she was shown being clever and ruthless usually were met with silence from the entire room. Occasionally Aster would look over and see the major discomfort Kuvira and the rest of the Earthbending family’s faces.

Now Aster was sitting in the room Suyin had given her to stay in until she could find a way home trying to figure out where to start in the process of doing so. She had looked through her back and noted she had some of the necessary tools to experiment with tech to try and recreate the portal she came through. The main issue now was finding a way for parts and tech to do so as there wasn’t much she could work with here in terms of said tech. Aster stood in front of a mirror looking at herself in the Earthbender clothing she was gifted from Suyin as well. She didn’t particularly like wearing dresses back home but she did have to admit that it wasn’t terrible to wear this one. It was one of the most breathable dresses she’s ever worn that’s for sure. Funnily enough, thinking about Earthbender things reminded Aster that Kuvira’s watch duty started today.

Aster was pulled from that thought when she noticed something or lack thereof, she had completely forgotten about. The bracelet she always wore, and she knew was wearing while she went through the portal, was missing from her wrist. If she could find it, it could be a jumping-off point for her way home. She opened her door to find and ask Kuvira to take her to where she fell, surprised to see her standing next to it.

Kuvira turned and gave a small wave, “Oh hey, did you need something?”

“Yeah I was going to ask you something,” Aster gave Kuvira a confused look, “but why are you standing outside my door? Your room’s down the hall, right?”

“Well, yeah but I am tasked with guarding you and being your escort around. Being here makes sure I don’t miss you leaving your room at any point.”

Aster shrugged, “I guess but standing out there all the time probably won’t be all that great, next time just knock and you can come to sit in my room or y’ know whatever. It’ll be better than standing out there all day.”

Kuvira gave the girl a bemused look, “Okay… I’ll consider that offer I suppose. You mentioned something you wanted to ask me.”

“Right, I was going to ask if you could take me to where a fell from by chance,” Aster started messing with the cuffs of her sleeves, “I was wearing a bracelet that I always wear when I went through the portal, I wanted to look for it. It could sorta jumpstart my way home.”

“Sure,” Kuvira paused for a moment to think and then continued, “Although I don’t know if you’ll find anything, it didn’t seem like there was anything left behind from you.”

“Well, I mean it’s better to try than to not look at all.”

\---------------

Aster had looked around the courtyard for almost an hour when they had arrived and it turned up nothing. Frustrated she eventually gave up and sat next to Kuvira, who had been watching while sitting on some steps, with a sigh. 

Kuvira turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow, “If you don’t mind me asking, how is this bracelet an item that could help you get home?”

“Ah, I never did explain that did I,” Aster leaned back looking up at the sky, “It’s an invention made from my family’s tech. It’s sorta like a personal assistant. Some of the things it does are mostly cosmetic like storing and keeping outfits I own so I don’t have to own tangible clothes, while also being able to project those outfits onto me almost instantly, making changing easier. It can also do the same with hairstyles and make-up and it does other useful things, like monitor my vitals. The important thing it can do though, that could help me get home, is it has a function that can summon items if I know where they are. I was hoping I could use the tools I have here to possibly amplify that summon function somewhat to recreate the portal somewhat.”

“So…” Kuvira said slowly, trying to process what was being explained to her, “If you don’t have this assistant… bracelet… thing, is it going to be impossible for you to get home?”

“No it would just be more of a shortcut and make things a little easier, I’ll just have to use stuff from this world and it’ll take a bit longer,” Aster closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, “It’s not like I’m in a terrible rush to get home, honestly my family will most likely find a way to me first.”

Kuvira felt like something was off about that statement but before she could ask about it a chunk of earth flew past them both. Looking behind them, they saw a rather angry looking man with more pieces of earth floating around him. Kuvira sighed knowing this was about to get increasingly annoying. 

Pointing at Kuvira the man shouted, “Kuvira! I’m here to make you pay for your unanswered crimes.”

She didn’t respond to the man, instead, turning to Aster, who had worry written all over her face, “You should take cover, this could get dangerous, especially for a non-bender. I can handle him.”

Before Aster could say anything Kuvira turned and started walking toward the man dodging the projectiles he was now hurling towards her. Aster decided to heed Kuvira’s advice since she had no defense of her own and moved behind a garden wall, watching from a distance. For a while, it seemed like Kuvira had the upper hand, seemingly more skilled with Earthbending than the man, but he had started using a few sneaky tactics to catch her off guard. Aster wanted to help but didn’t know how, until a glint next to her caught her eye.

Kuvira was getting increasingly annoyed with the cheap shots she kept getting hit with from this man. She felt completely off her game for some reason and she couldn’t place why. Maybe it’s because I haven’t fought in a while, Kuvira thought to herself, but then shrugged that thought off as while that was true, she had kept up with most of her training outside of fighting as a hobby,  _ So why haven’t I finished this already?! _ She was pulled out of her thoughts when she watched the man kick a rather large piece of rock at her and she had to dodge and counter with her Earthbending. Looking back for a moment she looked back to see the point of impact for the rock she dodged was close to where she had seen Aster take cover. 

Worry filled Kuvira’s thoughts for a moment and then turned to panic as looking away had given the man enough time to bind her hands and feet. The man started saying something about the “crimes” she got away with but she didn’t hear much as she was trying to figure out some way to free herself. Those thoughts stopped cold and were replaced with fear as Kuvira saw a glint of a blade the man was brandishing. As he raised the blade she recoiled as much as she could and closed her eyes waiting for it to be brought down on her.

That never happened though. Instead, Kuvira heard something connect with something else in front of her. Opening her eyes she saw the man tumbling away on the ground and Aster standing in front of her, a serious look on her face, and holding what seemed to be a rather larger hammer that looked like it was made of light. She was also wearing something else than the dress Suyin had given her. It was similar in design and color but, instead of the dress, she was wearing a top that wrapped around her neck and exposed her midriff and a pair of loose-fitting pants that cuffed at the bottom. To add on to that there was now a small humanoid figure floating towards her.

Aster glazed towards her for a second, “Are you okay?”

Kuvira heard a tinge of panic in the girl's voice and offered a reassuring smile, “Yeah he just got the jump on me. You stepping in stopped him from doing any major damage.”

Some visible tension left Aster before she turned to the figure floating near her, “Paws, help her get her hands free, I’ll deal with the psychopath over there.” 

The figure nodded and started moving towards Kuvira. She watched as Aster pulled the pole of the hammer apart into two separate pieces and the light from it shifted into a pair of similar-looking gloves. Using them, Aster deflected and punched through the earth that was being hurled at her. Kuvira then noticed that the thing Aster called Paws moved behind her and started to work on the earth binding her hand with something.

Paws chuckled a bit and then spoke to her, “I can’t believe that we’re actually in Zaofu. Of course, Aster finds me in the middle of some fight too.”

Kuvira looked at the thing in disbelief, “Who or what are you? Why are you called Paws?”

“I’m the “personal assistant” Aster mentioned,” Paws shrugged, “I come from the bracelet she was trying to find, and Paws is an acronym. It stands for **P** ersonal **A** ssistant and **W** ardrobe **S** ystem. Aster invented me to help with some of her daily tasks.”

“Okay…” Kuvira sat there trying to process all of this for the second time and then realized Paws had gotten her hands free and used them to remove the earth around her legs. Jumping up she prepared to go help Aster but noticed that, in the few minutes it took to free her hands and talk to Paws, Aster had restrained her attacker and was walking over to her. 

Aster seemed slightly out of breath but gave Kuvira a crooked smile, “I haven’t fought anyone in a long time, I’m glad you’re okay though.”

“Yeah, me too,” Kuvira gave a sheepish smirk, “Thanks for the save, I was in a bit of a pinch there.”

Aster chuckled, “It was no biggie, now we’re even in saving each others’ skin.”

Suyin, Lin, and Tenzin had come out to see what the commotion was. Aster gave a small wave to them before Suyin’s face changed and she pointed behind her. Aster turned to look behind her and saw that the man had gotten to his feet and, with his hands still bound, used his feet to kick a huge piece of earth towards Kuvira. In a split second thought, she moved in front of Kuvira. Closing her eyes, she crossed her arms in front of her to try and use the gloves to brace for impact. The rock never hit her though, instead, Aster heard rock hit rock. Opening her eyes, she saw two large rock pillars crossed in front of her and as she put her arms down the pillars rescinded back into the ground with them. As she watched this, her stomach dropped.


	4. Conditions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...Two months this time... my bad. I am on break now so hopefully, I can get a few chapters in. Life and writer's block hit hard but hopefully, you all enjoy this chapter. I also cleaned up chapter three. I missed a bunch of mistakes in it.

Aster had returned to her room and was now laying on the bed staring at the ceiling. She didn’t know what to make of what happened earlier that morning. How was she able to earthbend out of nowhere like that? Now she looked even more suspicious to everyone. They were all meeting again to discuss this new curveball of events.

“So not only have you somehow been transported to a fictional universe,” Paws said floating around the room after Aster had explained everything to her, “You somehow can magically earthbend, which in turn makes you look bad as you told everyone here you couldn’t do that and now they are trying to decide what to do with you.”

Aster sighed, “Yeah basically, it’s like this universe is trying to fit me into it by giving me bending out of nowhere. Non-benders exist here though so I don’t understand why giving me a bender form was the ideal route.”

Paws hovered over her giving her a look of skepticism, “You’re talking like this universe is sentient or something.”

“I mean it could be for all I know. The only two things I know about being here is that up until a few days ago I thought this was all fictional and that I’m stuck here.”

Paws was going to retort when there was a knock on the door. Aster sat up and let out a shaky breath before walking over and opening the door to Suyin, Lin, and Tenzin. Aster stepped aside and let them walk into the room, closing the door to face them. She regretted it the minute saw the stern looks they had that made the looks they gave the first day she arrived seem gentle. Frozen in place, Aster waited in the tensest silence she ever felt before Lin spoke first.

“So, you claim to come from another universe where our world is fiction and bending doesn’t exist and prove it to us by showing us fancy tech and movers. Then you proceed to earth bend a few days later. Care to explain?”

“I can’t,” Aster started in a slightly panicked tone, “I was expecting that rock to hit my arms, and then out of nowhere there were rock pillars in front of me. I didn’t even feel like I was doing anything and I have never done that before in my life, I swear.”

Lin’s face darkened a bit which made Aster stiffen, “People don’t just magically gain earth bending. Ever since you’ve shown up things have been out of control.”

Suyin placed a hand on Lin’s shoulder, “Lin this isn’t like anything we’ve dealt with before, things with her are going to be a bit strange, plus you’ve been using your seismic sense since she’s arrived. Every time she’s been telling the truth so far.”

“Also,” Tezin chipped in next, “Technically we’ve dealt with benders appearing out of nowhere. It happened with the air benders. Maybe this is a bit like that and she could have reacted to the spirit portals as they did. It’s not far fetched, especially if they don’t have a spirit world back where she’s from.”

Lin looked between the two for a moment before letting out a sigh, “You both are right. I may be coming off a bit strong.”

Suyin turned and spoke to Aster next, “We’ve decided that while it is strange you gained the power to earthbend out of nowhere, what you’ve explained and shown us so far still holds and you are still welcome to stay here until you can return home.”

Shock crossed Aster’s face, “Oh, um, that’s generous considering the trouble I’ve caused you all… thank you.”

“There is one new condition to this though,” Suyin continued, “You will develop your earth bending while you stay here as we don’t want to risk any accidents. You’ll receive training under several of the earth benders here to hopefully hone your skills.”

“O-Oh,” Aster stumbled a bit over her words, “If you think I can learn it then sure, I’m fine with that.”

Suyin gave her a warm smile, “Great, your first session will be with me tomorrow.”

With that, the three bid their goodbyes leaving a slightly stunned Aster alone to process what just happened.

\---------------

Kuvira stood outside the door to the room Aster was in, trying to get herself to knock. She was there to bring Aster to dinner, but something stopped her and she couldn’t figure out what. Something about Aster now made her nervous. Thinking back to earlier today and how Aster had jumped in and made an effort to fight for her and protected her from devastating blows, twice, made Kuvira feel strange. Baatar Jr. had stood by her side actively before she had hurt him, but somehow when someone was protecting her physically rather than just supporting her made her feel… content. It was something Kuvira never deemed important as she always had the means to fight for herself but she almost liked the feeling of being protected. She shook that thought from her head and steeled herself to finally knock.

After a moment Kuvira heard a quiet, “Come in.” Walking into the room she found a mess of papers and what seemed to be tools spread all over the floor with Aster sitting in the middle of all of it. Aster was still in her outfit from before but it seemed more disheveled than before and the same went for her hair, which seemed to have been pulled into a frantic braid. Kuvira thought that it was strangely… cute. She stopped her train of thought there, shocked she just used the word cute to describe anything.

Looking away as she felt the slight tinge of heat on her cheeks Kuvira said, “I’m here to take you to dinner, I hope I’m not interrupting any work.”

Aster stood, cleaning up herself a bit, “Not really, I haven’t gotten anywhere. Paws can’t pull anything from my world anymore so I thought maybe establishing communication back home would be easier but I haven’t gotten anywhere with that either.”

Aster walked past Kuvira into the hall and then they both started on their way to the dining room. Kuvira noticed Aster eyeing her like she wanted to ask her something so she raised an eyebrow as if to ask what she was up to.

Aster caught this and chucked a bit, “Sorry, I was just wondering, I’m supposed to be learning earth bending from different people now, will you be one of them?”

“I’m not sure,” Kuvira said with a shrug, “You might but I metal bend more often than the other so you’ll probably train with the others more unless you are somehow able to pick up metal bending before you go home, which is unlikely.”

Aster nodded looking ahead, “Right, that makes sense.”

Kuvira thought she heard a tinge of disappointment in Aster’s response but couldn’t ask about it as they arrived at the dining hall, joining everyone else for dinner.


End file.
